Fourth Avenue Baptist Church - Integrated Project Dossier (2014)

The Fourth Avenue Baptist Church is one of the numerous historic buildings scattered across the Glebe. Rising above Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood with its large stone and red brick building, the church represents an excellent example of the High Victorian Gothic Revival style. The distinguishing features of the building are the pointed openings, the buttresses, the windows in groups of three and the pitched roof. The Fourth Avenue Baptist Church features the main characteristics of a Baptist church. The largest and most important part of the building is the sanctuary. Other important rooms include Sunday school rooms, a hall or function room and kitchen for social gathering, offices and vestries for staff. Like all community buildings, the church has also foyers and restrooms. As was previously said the sanctuary is the most important element of the church. The teaching and preaching of the Bible take a central role in Baptist worship. As such, a central aspect of the sanctuary is the pulpit. It is the place in front of the sloping sanctuary, raised on a platform so it is visible to the entire congregation. Music plays a large part in Baptist worship as well. Being a traditional Baptist church, the Fourth Avenue Church has a choir with the seating area on a platform, behind the pulpit. The church also has an organ. The console is placed in front of the sitting area of the choir and pipes are mounted on the wall behind the choir. In 1996, the music program was further enhanced by the purchase of a Kawi grand piano and a state of the art sound system. The pews face the pulpit and have a semi-circular layout, encouraging the sense of community and participation. --- The present Integrated Project Dossier (IPD) was prepared in the context of an Undergraduate course - ARCH4100/CIVE3207 Historic Building Recording and Assessment offered by Carleton University. The main purpose of the IPD is to provide students with the opportunity of learning various approaches, techniques and conventions employed in the field of historic site recording. Generally, a survey is completed using multiple techniques and tools. The data provided by each technique is integrated to obtain a complete survey. Among the most employed techniques that can be encountered are hand surveying, total station surveying, photography, photogrammetry and laser scanning. Also, completion of the dossier provides students with the opportunity to become accustomed with the electronic devices currently used for performing complex tasks such as recording and assessment of buildings. The task is carried out by a group of five students from Carleton University.